COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. Lt 
INVESTMENT. 
The average investment per ranch of the 120 ranches studied in the 
Yakima Valley was $14,504.32, or $1,235.70 per acre. The areas in 
proximity to North Yakima have the advantages of the city. In the 
Nob Hill section, nearness to North Yakima, beautiful location, and 
the numerous incidental advantages of such an ideal situation make 
this acreage almost a prohibitive investment to one who must depend 
solely upon the income from the apple business, for at the time of this 
investigation merely the interest on such an investment amounted to 
a large proportion of the total annual cost of apple production. How- 
ever, Many men with independent incomes, wishing to establish beau- 
tiful homes under ideal conditions, bought small tracts of orchard and 
Fie. 2.—A community district school in the Tieton district, many miles from railroad. Such schools 
are a product of progressive ranches and progressive ideas. They are a measure of rural social condi- 
tions of the region. 
retired from active business life, expecting that the apple business 
would give them fair incomes. Many did not then consider the inter- 
est on their investment. Furthermore, prices then received for apples 
were high and in many instances seemed to warrant the prices asked 
for land. 
As far as location and climate are concerned, it would be difficult 
to find in the Northwest apple-producing areas a region Sur poesie 
Yakima Valley. 
Considering separately the 64 ranches in the North Yakima dis- 
trict, the average investment per ranch of 10.79 acres is $15,639.29, 
of which $7,525.78 is the estimated ites of the bearing apple orchard 
per ranch. This estimated value of the average apple orchard is 
